Busy Weekend

Sorry I've not been here all weekend, the weather was gorgeous & we were busy. If you left comments between last Thursday and Sunday I've replied. Every week I tell myself I need to write up a few posts to schedule but I almost never actually write them. Somehow, I'm not often organized enough or I don't have ideas to post about & can't natter on about nothing for days on end (believe it or not, lol).

Saturday~

We drove down to My Lovely Sister's house and had a wonderful Irish lunch (corned beef and cabbage) and played outside in the sun with Nephews 1 & 2. Little nephew 2 swatted Hubby with a badminton racquet just above the right elbow on the inner arm- the spot is now as big as my palm & black. Hubby just laughs and says the nephew has a great arm & that Hubby will simply have to pay more attention next time. LOL :) Little nephew 2 and I played frisbee together. Hubby turns out to be correct, the kid has an arm. He regularly tossed the frisbee directly to me or within arm's reach. My lack of hand eye coordination was what made the whole thing funny to watch.

After a fun family afternoon, we were driving home (it's about an hour and forty five minutes), Pianist and Anime Queen were snoozing in the back seat. Hubby looks at me as I'm trying to stay awake beside him. "So, sweetie, what are we serving for coffee hour at church tomorrow?" O. M. G. !! I totally forgot. Therefore: no food bought or made. Generally there is a twelve week sign up sheet for coffee hour hosts after the eleven o'clock service at church. I signed up for one in January & then forgot & we weren't even in church that day! *BLUSH* So, I really felt bad that I'd forgotten again. Jeez. Later that night we bought two small cheesecakes, a pineapple, some dip and veggies for a veggie tray & we were set.

Then we realize that Sunday morning was "spring forward" day. As in- move the clocks ahead an hour at 0200 (am). Here we thought it was only 11:30 pm & in fact it was actually 12:30 am and we were all wide awake. We're slow in the morning & we'd have to leave for church at 9:30 to prep the food & set up for coffee hour. :(

Sunday~

Coffee hour went well, despite the er..lack of early preparation, not to mention lack of adequate sleep. We had fresh pineapple & watermelon slices & a veggie tray & two cheeses & & two quiches & pita chips plus juice, sherry & coffee. The sherry and the coffee are provided by the parishoners, thank goodness. *phew!* Most everything was gone except for some watermelon and pineapple chunks. We didn't return home until the middle of the afternoon. Yesterday was sunny & incredibly warm (73 F) & the house was 80 inside. Way, way too hot for March. We dragged out the fans and turned the air conditioning on to cool the house down. Then it was naptime for Hubby and me. The kids worked on homework all afternoon. Hubby roasted a delicious chicken with potatoes & carrots. A peaceful end to a gorgeous weekend.

I did manage to read a few pages in the Scott Westerfeld science fiction book I'm steadily working on. I totally ignored my email & my feed reader, both of which I will now go & winnow.

Meditation on Winter

The sky was a rich blue heavily laced with dark grey storm clouds late this afternoon as I waited in the biting wind. Tiny finger size twigs and bigger branches tossed back and forth like coral in a current. The wind played with me- chasing up the sleeves of my winter coat and tying my hair in knots. I could feel my body heat rising from my head into the sky.

I wanted to walk for blocks in the nighttime quiet. For that's how it was this evening in Old Town. Quiet. The little white lights draped in the trees danced frantically over our heads, clinging to their branches like barnacles in the surf. Winter's frozen currents rushing and swooping around us swirling fallen leaves over our heads. Other than a group of college age carolers, laughing and singing as they rushed up the street, we were alone in Old Town- a rarity neither of us can ever remember in the years we've lived here.

I was refreshed and invigorated. The cold winter wind reminds me of how human I am. How alive I am. I feel brighter. Full of possibility. The earth rests and recuperates, but I'm energized. Somehow in the summer I'm sluggish. Lethargic. I want to hibernate. Like an ant trapped in honey. Winter, though, that's more my season. Gathering energy for the year to come.

In hopes of snow tomorrow:

Snow-Flakes
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


Out of the bosom of the Air,
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent, and soft, and slow
Descends the snow.

Even as our cloudy fancies take
Suddenly shape in some divine expression,
Even as the troubled heart doth make
In the white countenance confession,
The troubled sky reveals
The grief it feels.

This is the poem of the air,
Slowly in silent syllables recorded;
This is the secret of despair,
Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,
Now whispered and revealed
To wood and field.

Chalchihuitlicue was here

Image found on latinamericanstudies.org



She is the Aztec goddess of rain and flowing water. It rained all Sunday afternoon, a light barely noticable drizzle. Enough to soak the ground and drip down the windows. Bead on my potted plants. When I went to bed, though, much later- Chalchihuitlicue poured her blessings upon us.

The wind shook all of my chimes and leaves blew down the street, visible in the yellow glow of the streetlamp. I curled up in our bed listening to the rain drum on the roof and snuggled deeper into the cocoon of warmth. Somehow the rain always helps me sleep better.

Rain! Glorious rain~

After months of withering heat and a distinct lack of rain, it has been wet and cool and damp yesterday and today, hopefully even tomorrow. The weatherman says we've had 2" so far. My garden is perking up a little, the grass isn't quite so crunchy underfoot and the little maple tree growing out from under our front stoop is distinctly greener.